Saturday, August 21, 2010

Recipe Saturday - Blueberry Banana Bread

I'm going to attempt to make Saturdays a day for posting new or favorite recipes.  The following is a recipe I recently tried out and both my husband and I loved it.  This one is definitely going in to my Family Recipes folder for future use.

This bread was so very easy to make and absolutely delicious!  I'm craving some as I type and wishing I had the blueberries and bananas in the house so I could bake some tonight. 

Tip:

The only down side to making this is that it does take a bit of planning ahead of time if you do not regularly keep bananas in the house, as most bananas are not yet ripe enough to use when you first bring them home from the store.  I purchased a set of cheap brown paper lunch bags at the local Dollar Tree to use and help speed up the ripening process on my bananas.

Just place your bananas in the brown paper bag, close tightly and set it out of your way on the counter for a couple of days.  Check your bananas daily and they can ripen quite fast using this method.  If you happen to have an apple handy, placing an apple in the bag with the bananas will also help to speed the ripening process.  Apples emit ethylene gasses which helps to speed the ripening process of certain fruits such as bananas.



Blueberry Banana Bread

Original recipe by Sandy Flick found on Allrecipes.com .  I have altered this recipe by changing up some of the ingredients and adding a few of my own ingredients to give it my own special touches.

These were excellent and make a great quick breakfast or dessert.  This bread would also be a fabulous quick and easy gift for someone special.  Just wrap a loaf in cellophane tied with a beautiful bow and top it off with a home made gift tag.


Ingredients

Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Dash of cinnamon (I use Pampered Chef’s Cinnamon Plus)
½ cup butter flavored shortening
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 medium ripe bananas. Mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries

 Streusel Topping (optional)

¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon of cinnamon (or Pampered Chef’s Cinnamon Plus)
2 tablespoons of cold butter
¼ cup chopped pecan nuts (or walnuts)


Directions

In a bowl combine all ingredients for Streusel Topping, except chopped nuts.  Cut butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter until the butter is well incorporated and the ingredients are crumbly.  Add the nuts to the mixture and fold to mix in.  Set aside in a cold refrigerator until ready to use.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Beat in bananas (I just slice bananas and then beat them until mashed in the Kitchen Aide mixer).  Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating just until combined.  Fold in blueberries.

Pour into three greased 5-¾ in. x 3 in. x 2 in. loaf pans.  Sprinkle Streusel Topping on the top of each loaf.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.

Note:

I used mini Bundt pans and baked for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees and an additional 10 minutes at 325 degrees and these came out perfectly.  Muffin tins would also work great for this recipe, but you may need to adjust time as needed for your particular pans.

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